A loyalty engine – on the financial institution’s mobile app
Retailers who want to draw in repeat business need to design their offers to be in front of the consumer on the device they use the most and delivered when they make decisions about spending – before shopping and at the point of sale.
Making offers, deals and rewards accessible through the mobile banking app creates a loyalty engine, where offers are always relevant to personal needs and pop up at the relevant times. Where consumers can track how long they have until an offer expires and which offers are the closest to them geographically.
This spells the end of boring loyalty offers that sit inactive in a physical wallet, crumbled up at the bottom of a bag, or in an email reminder that did not make it past the spam filter. When a loyalty program is in front of cardholders, cleverly communicating the value of a service or product, it makes them feel good about spending and motivates them to return.
From ‘traditional’ to ‘trailblazer’ – the changing role of banks and credit unions
A mobile solution that sits at the intersection of shopping, payments and banking can revolutionize the concept of loyalty, and banks and credit unions are well placed to spearhead this change. These financial institutions can magnify retailers’ reach and capability to offer more frequent, relevant, interactive and visible solutions to consumers on mobile.
With apps like myGini, customers can access personalized offers through the banking provider’s app, which means every time they earn rewards, find new deals and receive a helpful reminder of a bargain they do not want to miss, the financial institution gets closer to establishing their debit or credit card as the consumer’s number one card of choice.
Banks and credit unions need to recognize the potential of this and should not shy away from partnering with a fintech to make this happen. If they are willing to think out of the box, they can turn the disruptive force of fintechs into the source of their own innovation.
Consumers are ready for change – will banks and CUs keep up?
Consumers are ready to move on from static loyalty programs to more exciting ways to interact both with their favorite brands and banking providers. Banks and credit unions can lead the way and capitalize on this change with the help of fintechs that understand and view customer needs from a different perspective and can deliver this without an IT overhaul or their own finances suffering a blow.
Shoppers will increasingly favor those financial institutions whose mobile presence doubles up as a loyalty engine for relevant, useful and personalized retailer offers. As they deliver targeted shopping incentives, highlight available rewards and help consumers make intelligent financial decisions, banks and credit unions themselves will earn customer loyalty and increase transaction volumes.
Banking, payments and retailer offers coming together effortlessly on an app – this is the future of loyalty.
Mehmet Sezgin, is CEO and Founder of myGini - an integrated payment and shopping app that delivers the ultimate “win-win-win” for financial institutions, cardholders, and retailers.